Wednesday, 18 June 2014

Port Lympne

For my boyfriend’s 21st I decided
to take him to Port Lympne; a place near Hythe, Kent, where you can go on
Safari and stay overnight in African style tents! I was really nervous because
he loves animals and I wanted to make sure that it was going to be realistic
enough for him to enjoy! Luckily, it was incredible. We arrived, checked in and
got free champagne, which is always a bonus…There were about 15 people overall
in our group, and we set off on Safari style trucks (this was a personal
highlight, they were so cool!).

Excuse the
blurry photos, our cameras are so grainy!

On the first safari, we saw so many different
animals such as Rhinos, Antelope and Zebras. I found it really nice to be able
to see these animals roaming around in such a large space, it was really
obvious that they were well looked after. They were acting just like it was
their natural habitat, we even saw some of them fighting just like they would
in the wild. It was so cool to be so close to the animals, but we knew that we
were safe in the mammoth truck; I really felt like I was in Africa. This safari
lasted for roughly an hour which both my Dan and I really enjoyed. I was
so pleased that it lived up to his expectations (even though this had been a
surprise!). We then arrived at the tents we were going to stay in for the
night. They were so authentic, and we looked right out on the watering hole… It
was absolutely incredible. Our tent was called the Zebra tent and we had about
an hour to settle in and watch the sunset before we headed down to the Laapa (a
communal room) for our three course African style meal!

Once arriving at the Laapa, we ordered some
drinks (these weren’t included in the price) and began chatting to some of the
other people who were on the trip as well! Before long, it was time for
dinner…which was being cooked right in front of our eyes on a massive Barbeque
in the middle of the room. There was such a big range of food to choose from,
and I had the “Famous African Boerewors Sausage” for my starter and then peri
peri chicken with couscous and salad for my main which was so delicious! I was
so full that I couldn’t even manage a dessert. As it was my boyfriend’s
birthday, the staff brought him out a tiny little chocolate cake with a candle!
Although he was full too, he couldn’t say no to his own tiny birthday cake,
African style. Once dinner was over, we listened to stories from the rangers;
about travelling to Africa to see beautiful animals and their work at Port
Lympne. It was such a lovely end to the evening, but we had to go to bed
because we had such an early start (well, for us students anyway!) for the
second safari.

The morning safari was probably my favourite
out of the two because we got to see Giraffes! We got so close to them, I was
actually getting a little bit scared. However, it was absolutely incredible to
see them so closely. We saw the elephants again, and other animals as well.
After the safari finished, we were able to have a look around the rest of the
park.

Port Lympne was
actually massive, so we were able to have a good look round the rest of the
park as our safari finish at around 11 o clock. The African Experience section
on the map was where we had previously been on the safari, so you can see that
we still had a lot of exploring left to do.

We started walking around the park, and it was
amazing to see so many beautiful animals. I especially liked seeing the Cheetah
in the park, and the Lynx were absolutely stunning. The monkeys were cheeky and
it was weird to see them so relaxed as in Zoo’s it can sometimes seem quite
forced. After exploring the rest of the park we headed over to Howlett’s park
(the sister park of Port Lympne, which is about 20 minutes away from Port
Lympne) as this was included in our tickets! We saw more incredible animals,
including a Snow Leopold, which my boyfriend was incredibly excited about as he
has never seen one before but has always wanted to.

We both had an incredible time at our
overnight safari and would definitely recommend anyone to go! Have you ever
been on a Safari? Would you ever be interested in going on one?

We discovered Port Lympne last month and spent a very soggy day there but still had a great time, we got annual passes so intend to return again sometime soon and hopefully can enjoy it more and get to see more animals without the rain spooling it slightly.Looks like you had an amazing time doing the over night safari, I'd love to do a real one in Africa but I'm too scared what might bite me haha!

Thats amazing - how did you get those? I'm envious! Its such a great find, I couldn't believe it. Hahaha I totally agree with you there! I think it was such a controlled environment but in Africa I feel like the animals would have been even more free! When the giraffes came close, I was so scared they would touch me! xx

They were actually the same price as the day entry tickets so we opted for the yearly pass instead, I'm really surprised you didn't get them with your package.Haha animals are great to look at but scary if they get too close ;) I'd love to see Lions in the wild though, they're my fave x

I don't think so! Obviously, it would be better if it was sunny but we went in the last weekend that they do it in the year (october) and even though it rained a little and was cold, it was amazing!! I think you get so caught up in the animals and the experience you don't even notice :) xxx